Alone
by Abandon-Morality
Summary: The scars that we remember the most are made from wounds that never bleed.
1. Every Scar Tells A Story

Zuko had been with the GAang for almost two weeks now, and they were all finally getting to the point where they could eat around the same fire without going for each other's jugulars. Even though Zuko had done everything that he could think of to make Katara like him more (Or hate him less) his efforts had been in vain; she still glared at him from across the fire and still gave him the most burnt of the food that she could scrap from the bottom of the pan.

Zuko sighed as he looked down on his half-curdled soup, finishing it off in one gulp as to avoid prolonging the flavor. He took a large drink of his water, and as though he had been waiting for it, Sokka took that moment to ask the question that Zuko had been dreading since he started staying with them; "So Zuko," the water tribe boy said, "How'd you get that ugly scar on your face?"

Toph smacked him harder than Zuko had ever thought possible, but the boy didn't look abashed in the least, and the others around the fire didn't bother to hide their interest either, and stared at the sixteen year old that they barely knew.

Zuko sighed, having anticipated their curiosity, but still feeling bitter for the attention, "I got it when I was thirteen, in an Agni Kai; a fire duel."

They kept staring at him, and Zuko gave a heavy sigh, knowing that they wouldn't give up until he had shared the whole thing. "I had just turned thirteen, and my Father was having a meeting in the Fire Chamber. I wanted to go, since I was the crown prince, and I was finally considered a man, but the guards wouldn't let me in. My Uncle tried to convince me that it wasn't all that great in there; that it was just a bunch of old men discussing war tactics, but I begged him to let me in, to let me start to learn to be King."

Zuko laughed bitterly at himself, his hand rubbing viciously at the scar covering the left side of his face. "I should have listened to him and gone and done something else, but I begged him to take me in there; as a birthday present. He complied, of course, having always liked me, but he warned me to keep quiet, no matter what I heard. I went into the war chamber, and I sat through their plans. I hated it, the thought of war and the death of our people, but I did as my uncle said; I kept quiet. It wasn't until the very end of the meeting, when an older general proposed a plan that would send a whole battalion of inexperienced warriors into a skirmish with a group of rebel Earth Benders that my word was tested. They would have had no chance; they had just been trained, and some of them not even that much."

Katara, forgetting for a moment that she hated Zuko asked, "Why would they do that? If they were fire nation soldiers, why risk them dying?"

Zuko sighed, "They were bait. Pawns to help draw out the rebels into a field that they couldn't hide in. It was a well thought out plan; the ground beneath the site was solid rock, and after fighting the battalion, they wouldn't have been able to bend it quickly enough to fend off the second wave of soldiers."

Before Katara could interrupt him again, he continued, "They would have been slaughtered, the new recruits, but the general though that this was acceptable; a thousand of our soldiers to destroy the opposition that had been keeping us at bay for months. I couldn't stand the thought of it, though, and I stood up. I told the general that his plan was madness, that he had no right to sacrifice our soldiers to kill a handful of Earth Benders."

Zuko stopped, taking a drink and rubbing his arms, as though the memories made him cold, "The General was outraged. He said that I didn't understand the weight of success that their deaths would bring; he said that I didn't understand that the soldiers in question would gladly lay their lives down in the defense of their nation. I couldn't stop myself; I told him that the battle that they were going to die in wasn't in the defense of our nation, our people. I told him, in front of the entire war chamber, that the war with the other nations was nothing but a bid for domination that had cost more lives than it was worth."

Sokka and Toph gasped, "What happened?" Toph whispered, her sightless eyes wide.

"My Father got mad. The General that I had insulted declared that the only way for this abomination to be cleansed was for me to fight in an Agni Kai. I had looked at the general, and I had had no fear of defeat; he had experience, but I was strong and arrogant in my youth."

Zuko pulled his knees up to his chest, his eyes growing distant as he stared into the fire, seeing, not the faces of his companions, but the blur of a thousand people in a screaming crowd, "That night, when I should have been in my uncle's house having my Birthday dinner with him, I was getting ready for an Agni Kai. I was calm, excited, even, to be able to finally prove myself to my father, to prove that I was worth something. The gong tolled, and I stood and faced my opponent. But it wasn't the aged general that starred back at me from across the arena."

Zuko didn't hear Katara ask who it had been, he just felt the shock of it over again, caught in the memory; "I stared into the eyes of my father, the Fire Lord."

Everyone gasped, their mouths falling open. "Why?" rang out from several mouths, but Zuko was already going on.

"I had misunderstood; though I had spoken out against the general's plan, I had done it in my Father's war chamber. The insult had not been to the General, but to the Fire Lord himself."

"What'd you do?" Someone asked, but Zuko couldn't hear them anymore, he just continued on, voice distant, "I couldn't fight him; he was my father. I begged. Begged to be forgiven for speaking out in his war chamber. He demanded that I fight, but I couldn't, I abased myself, begging like a child in front of the entire court. I can still hear them laughing at me, jeering so loudly I couldn't even hear myself think. My father approached, and I had begun to cry. I cried!" Zuko screamed it, making everyone jump.

"I cried like a damned fool as he pinned me to the ground, using all of his strength though I didn't fight his hold." A single tear slid from Zuko's damaged eye, but he didn't make a move to wipe it away. "Lying there, with my father on top of me, I heard the words that will haunt me to my grave."

Zuko paused, shivering as the venom he had heard in his father's voice gripped him.

"What?" Katara whispered, not wanting to know, but needing to all the same.

Zuko nodded in her direction idly, "As he placed his hand over my left eye, he leaned close to whisper into my ear, 'You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.' Then he burned me, searing the flesh off of my young face in one rush of pain; then he was gone. He left me to scream my anguish in front of a crowd of people I had considered family until then."

Zuko took a shaking breath, his eyes still distant as he remembered everything about that day over again, "I don't know how far into my punishment I passed out, but I woke up on a ship, just outside of the borders of my nation. It was there that I found out that I had lost everything that a person could lose, and all in one day; my home, my family, my freedom. And the only chance of ever regaining any of it rested in an impossible task."

Toph, eyes watery, asked in a trembling voice, "What task?"

Zuko smiled bitterly towards Aang, "Capture the Avatar." He said, his voice heavy with resentment, but not towards the twelve year old.

Before anyone could think of anything to say, Zuko was gone, his bowl the only indicator that he had been there at all.

Katara sat still for a moment before gasping, her eyes wide, "He couldn't have known."

Sokka looked at her oddly, "What; that sticking up for a group of untrained soldiers would make his psycho dad banish him? How could he? I can't even believe it now."

Toph took a deep breath; "He told the truth; all of it. Nothing he said was a lie."

Katara shook her head, "No," she said, her tone strangled, "His Father couldn't have known. About Aang. At the time that Zuko was banished, he couldn't have known that Aang would come back. Aang had been gone for almost a hundred years at the time, and no one had heard anything about him. There was no way that Zuko could find him." Katara stopped, her face losing its color, "He did it on purpose. He gave Zuko a task that no one could complete, much less a thirteen year old boy. He made sure that Zuko could never go home."

Aang actually felt sick as he thought of a thirteen year old boy being told that his only chance to go home was in catching a person that everyone believed to be dead. "Even if he had found another avatar, how would he have caught him or her? He was just a kid; the Avatar is a master in every element. Zuko had no hope in taking someone that strong in, even if he did find him." Aang looked in the direction that Zuko had fled, suddenly feeling bad for escaping all of the times that the Fire Prince had had him.

It was Sokka who spoke next, "Imagine what it must have been like for him; knowing that he should have been a king and having to be an outcast. And that his own family had done it to him."

Toph nodded, but didn't say anything, which was a rarity for her.

Everyone just stared at the fire, each caught up in their own thoughts, and though they didn't know it, a lone fire nation boy sat nearby in the darkness, his sobs held in by a bloody knuckle.

Zuko couldn't believe that he had told them everything. He couldn't believe that they KNEW now, about the thing that kept him up most of the night.

Zuko got up, using his years of stealth training to get away silently. He slipped into his room, so far away from everyone else's, and, as he fell into a fitful sleep, he remembered a time when he had been loved, when he had known the comforts of safety and the joys of knowing where he would be the next day.

And, almost unnoticed by him, he gave a soft sob as his fathers face flitted across his mind.

'I want to go home,' he though hazily. But even as he let the treacherous words float cross his mind he knew the truth; He had no home. That had all been ruined for him the moment he allowed the love his Mother had instilled in him out into the poisonous world his father had made.

And, in the darkness of his room, Zuko cried.

This is the end. I just wanted to make one of these for myself, since I am picking up my Ba Sing Sei arc story. This has always been something that I have thought about; how Zuko would explain his scar to the people he came to travel with.

The episode where they see it all happen in the play was disappointing for me. How could they believe that they would put something like that in a play and not have it be at least a little bit true?

Fools. Poor Zuko.


	2. All Alone And Come To Me

Paramore: I tried to make it a little bit different from the series, since I know that hints about the things that Zuko had been through were scattered throughout. I also wanted to show this part of Zuko's life in a way that is more real. Egregious forms of child abuse exist, even today, much less in a world of tyrants and wars. This story will be a bit different from the cartoon, and will have darker themes than the show was allowed to portray.

Emerald Doe: Thank you! This one is dedicated to you, even though I had planned to leave this all as a one-shot. It was a mistake in publishing that listed this story as 'in progress' but I am happy to continue as long as I have a public for whom to write.

Ice Blue Crystal: I've always felt bad for Zuko; even when he was the uptight prince of the fire nation. There was always a feeling of sadness about him that I honed in on. That melancholy is what I write about now; what feeds my creativity.

Thank you all for your reviews! And to the twenty people who have me on their Alerts, and the thirty people who have me on their Favorites lists!

BANDON-MAKES-A-START

Zuko woke with a headache and the feeling that something bad had happened last night. It took his groggy brain a moment to remember, but when he did he jumped out of his cot, shame making his face bright. "Oh, this is not happening!" he screamed, his mind racing, "What in the fuck made me do something so stupid?"

Zuko berated himself for almost a full ten minutes, but it didn't take away what he had said last night, and it didn't stop his stomach from growling in protest of whatever was keeping food from it. Zuko sighed, knowing that hiding in his room was not an option, his shame be damned.

It was harder than he would ever admit to venture into the part of the temple that the other stayed in, even if it was so much earlier than any of them ever woke up. Zuko crept down halls and over stairs until he could look into the kitchen without being seen by anyone who may have been in there.

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief as he found it empty. He crept from his hiding place, carefully making his way to the cupboard where they kept their food. He had barely gotten out a slice of bread when he heard footsteps and voices approaching. Primal extinct took over and Zuko ran, fleeing the room as though whips drove him on. The bread had barely dropped to the ground when the others came in, by which time Zuko had bounded from view.

Zuko watched as Aang and Katara looked at the open cabinet and the dropped piece of bread. Zuko didn't stay around long enough to hear what they said to each other; he didn't want to know.

BANDON-MAKES-A-BREAK

Aang looked down at the piece of bread that lay between him and Katara, and he knew, almost instinctively, that it had been Zuko in here not moments before they arrived who had left it there in a hasty retreat.

Aang had been the quickest to accept the older boy's presence, besides Toph, and he had grown to look to him with a need for guidance. It made the air bender sad that Zuko felt the need to run away from them.

Katara looked at the sorrow on Aang's face, and felt rage. "Aang, you just have to accept that Zuko is different from us; he can't fit in here. I mean, besides the fact that he's a fire bender, he isn't the nicest person."

Aang shook his head, tired of arguing with Katara about this. "You don't understand, Katara. Maybe he has more reasons than we know that make him the way that he is."

Katara sighed, "Just because he had one bad experience in his life doesn't give him the right to try to kill us."

Aang became mad, how could she not understand? "Katara, he lost his entire family when he was younger than you are now, and he suffered it from the hands of his own father! If that won't mess someone up, I don't know what will!"

Katara nodded, conceding that such an event would make a person different, but she just couldn't bring herself to trust the fire prince.

They let the conversation drop after that, not wanting to fight when their group already had frayed nerves.

Hours later, Sokka came out; his eyes blood shot and hair a mess. "Mornin' guys, how'd you sleep?" he asked in his slurring early morning voice.

Katara cast a critical eye on her brother, bothered by his messier than normal appearance. "Wake up on the wrong side of the bed much?" she teased.

Sokka didn't rise to the bait but simple sat down on a pile of nearby rocks. "Couldn't sleep," he eventually replied, "I just kept thinking about what happened last night. I don't know what I regret more; asking the question or sticking around for the answer."

Katara was shocked; her brother admitting to a wrongdoing? "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she asked, placing her hand on his head. "I don't think I've ever heard you say sorry about anything."

Sokka just shrugged her off, looking around at his companions, frowning; "So where is he, anyways? I know that fire benders wake up at sunrise, so he has to be somewhere."

"He's not in his room," Toph's voice called, preceding the girl into the room, "I just went over there to ask him if he wanted some breakfast. He didn't get much to eat last night."

She cast a look in the general direction of Katara, but the other girl chose to ignore it.

"So," Katara said to break the tension, "Who wants some breakfast? We still have enough provisions for one week, if we're careful."

Aang shook his head, "No, I think that I'm going to go find Zuko. I want to make sure that he's okay." Aang got a couple pieces of fruit, a half loaf of bread, and some cheese and began to walk off, only to find both Sokka and Toph behind him.

He turned to them curiously; he had never known Sokka to give up food for anything, short of the life of someone he loved, and then only reluctantly. Sokka shrugged, "Like you all said; it's not often that I feel bad for something that I did; I just want to – well, not apologize, - but say something to him. You know?"

Aang nodded, looking at Toph, who chose to ignore him, shaking her head. Aang shrugged and they started walking, they had barely gotten a couple of feet when Katara sighed, coming to join them, though she muttered darkly under her breath.

Aang smiled, happy that the water tribe girl was going with them.

BANDON-MAKES-A-BREAK

Almost an hour later, they still hadn't found him, and they were all getting irritable; the Air temple was huge, and Aang couldn't remember where half of the halls led.

Toph had tried to use her bending to locate the fire nation boy, but echoes from animals had led they on more than one false trail, leading to Sokka having a couple of bite marks from a monkey-snake, and Katara getting half eaten bugs thrown up in her face by a rabbit-hopper.

All in all, the Zuko scavenger hunt had not gone as Aang had planned.

"I say that we give up," Katara said for the thousandth time since they had started, "We aren't going to find him in this maze."

Aang, already frustrated, opened his mouth to tell her that if she wanted to go, she could, caught the faint sound of music from a hallway that they were passing. "Music?" he questioned, looking between his friends to see if they heard it too. Everyone paused, straining to hear anything from the gloomy looking hall.

Sokka nodded, walking closer, "I hear something," he whispered, "I sounds . . . like nothing I've ever heard."

Aang nodded, joining Sokka. "Toph," he said, "can you see any life down this way?"

Toph concentrated, nodding her head. "There are two signatures, one moving really fast and one standing still."

Aang cocked a questioning brow, wondering if Zuko were the moving one, or the still one, and how someone they didn't know had gotten into the air temple.

Toph just shook her head as he spoke his thoughts aloud, heading down the hall, leaving the others to follow. Sokka and Aang went readily, but Katara stood her ground, wanting to go back to the kitchen and get something to eat. "This is stupid!" she said, "We don't even know if it's Zuko down there."

"Then go do something else, Princess!" Toph shouted back at her, already half way down the hall, "We don't need you here; we can find Zuko on our own."

Katara huffed when no one came to her aid, but followed them along down the corridor.

They walked for five minutes, following Toph silently. They had almost reached the end when they spotted a light ahead. Toph smirked back at Katara, who stuck her tongue out, even though the other girl couldn't see it.

It was then the sounds started reaching them; other than the music that had been getting steadily louder, they heard grunts and the sound of fists hitting flesh. Everyone looked at each other, frightened of what was going on in there; who could be fighting?

Toph looked worried, "There are two people in there; two pulses. One beating the other."

Aang nodded, approaching the door quietly, his heart racing at the thought of facing an unknown assailant.

They burst into the room, thinking that Zuko was being beaten, but what they saw shocked them; Zuko had an unknown person tied to a post and was beating him senseless.

Zuko didn't seem to notice them; he just kept beating the person. Aang and Sokka jumped in, attacking the other boy, knocking him to the ground as Toph used her bending to encase the arms and legs of the anger bender so that he couldn't get up. Sokka had a bloody lip from where Zuko had tried to protect himself, and Aang had a black eye, but that was nothing to the prince's victim, who barely seemed alive.

Sokka kicked Zuko in the ribs, making him curve his side, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Sokka demanded, "You just can't be happy unless you're causing pain, you sick bastard?"

Zuko spat at Sokka's feet, struggling in his bonds, trying to get up and defend himself. "What the fuck would you know, peasant?" Zuko taunted back, earning him another kick in the ribs, making him cough.

Sokka looked at Katara, who was trying to cut the person down, but was having trouble, "What's wrong, Katara?" he asked.

"It's not a human!" she screeched, jumping away from it.

"What do you mean, 'not a human'?" Sokka asked, approaching the thing tied to the post.

"It's a training doll. It just looks human." Zuko said, blood spilling down his chin from a cut on the side of his mouth.

Toph scoffed, "It has a pulse, Princey. Whatever this thing is, it's alive."

Zuko coughed, spitting blood onto the floor, "It's my energy poured into it." To prove his point, he closed his eyes and Toph felt a current running away from the thing on the pole into the prince on the floor.

Katara gasped as the thing on the pole went from looking like a person to looking like a scarecrow, a sack for a head and straw for hair.

Zuko sat up, having been released from his bonds.

It was only then that everyone noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Heat flamed on several faces as the pissed off boy walked to the other side of the room, picking up a slim device and pushing a button on it, making the music turn off.

"What's that?" Aang asked, curious.

Zuko spat at him, "None of your fucking business."

Katara gasped at him; "What the hell is wrong with you, you-"

"What is wrong with me?" the prince interrupted, "What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm not the one who busted in on someone's training and started beating him for no goddamn reason!"

Here Aang, Toph, and Sokka looked repentant, "Zuko," Aang said, "We didn't mean to. We thought that you were being attacked, or attacking someone. I mean-"he gestured helplessly at the doll, "That thing looked so real! What were we supposed to think?"

Zuko looked even more pissed, but he just sighed, shaking his head, "Whatever," he grumbled, rubbing his bare side, drawling a couple of heated glances.

Sokka coughed pointedly, hoping that the prince would put his shirt back on. Aang looked at the muscles on Zuko's stomach, then felt his stomach through his robe, wishing that Katara were looking at him like that.

Zuko seemed to notice for the first time that he was not fully clothed, and rushed over to a chair that no one had noticed before, near the hole in the wall that was giving the room light. As Zuko crossed the beam, Aang and Sokka drew in hissing breathes, Katara actually let out a gasp; the Prince had scars lacing his back, disappearing around his sides.

"What?" Toph asked, annoyed that something was happening that she couldn't use her bending to see. "What's going on?"

Aang, his face stark white, said, "Zuko has scars."

Zuko paused in putting on his shirt, back tense.

"I know," Toph said, "There's that one on his face, right?"

Zuko cast Aang a sharp look as he rushed from the room, shirt only half covering his stomach.

Aang made to follow him, but Sokka put his arm out, restraining the younger boy while shaking his head. "I wouldn't, Aang." He told the air bender, "He's too mad to be looked after right now; just give him a little space to cool off."

Aang looked uncertain, but nodded, moving to sit on the chair that Zuko's shirt had been hanging on, only to hear a crunch and feel something painfully sharp stab his behind. Aang jumped up, yelping in pain. "What in the world was that?" he asked no one in particular, rubbing his bleeding butt. Katara rushed forward, already taking her water skin off, but Aang shook his head, avoiding her healing hands as he picked up whatever it was that he had broken.

Covered by a towel, something about the size of an average hand lay broken into several pieces. Aang picked it up, placing it in his hand piece by piece and fitting them together as best he could. His face visibly lost its color as he starred down at a hand carved music box. "He's gonna kill me!" the young Avatar squeaked, his hand clenching around the tiny device.

Katara shrugged, "He shouldn't have left it lying around, then. It's his own fault."

"It isn't his fault, Katara!" Sokka shouted, "If we hadn't come barging in here he wouldn't have had to leave in such a rush."

Toph, who had been largely silent, finally shouted, "Shut the hell up, you bickering old maids! What were you saying, 'Zuko has scars?'"

Everyone looked different direction, rubbing their arms awkwardly, not knowing how to explain what they had just seen.

Finally, at Toph's less than pleased expression, Aang said meekly, "He walked through a beam of light, and we saw his back. He had a bunch of scars that covered his back, and a lot of them looked like they continued on to his stomach."

"How many are we talking here?" Toph asked in her usual lack of sensibility, "Like two or three or five to ten?"

Aang couldn't say anything more; all he wanted in the world was to stop talking about what he had just seen.

Sokka continued where he couldn't: "More than that Toph, way more. Almost everything was covered in scars, some of them all old and white, like war scars, and some of them new, like they had just healed over a couple of weeks ago."

Toph frowned, "I knew that he was hurt when he came to join us, but I didn't think that the Prince of the Fire Nation would be seriously hurt without telling us about it."

Katara nodded, thinking about what Toph had just said, "How would he have gotten them? He's been here for two weeks, and before that he was working in a tea shop."

Sokka cocked an eyebrow at her, and she blustered, "Oh shut up, you! We got to talking down in the cave, right before they came and we all escaped. Not much, but that's the gist of what was said."

Aang coughed, "Then how in the world did he get them? I mean," The Avatar said, "When we were escaping, I know that he had blood on his back in a couple of spots, but I thought that that was from something else; someone else!"

Sokka nodded, "He didn't seem any worse for wear when we saw him just a couple of days before he came to stay with us.

Toph grunted, "He was. I smelt it on him when we got close to each other. Even though the street stunk to high hell, I smelt the blood and antiseptic on him."

"Why didn't you tell us, Toph?" Aang asked, frustrated that someone had been in pain and he hadn't known about it.

Toph shrugged, frowning at him, "It wasn't my job to tell you all what Zuko's hiding under his robes."

Katara, sensing a fight, said, "Look, Toph is right. If Zuko wanted for us to know about his problems, he would have told us himself. He probably would have left us in a huff like he just did right now had we confronted him about it."

Toph and Sokka nodded, but Aang still didn't look sure, "I don't know," the twelve year old said, "If he's hurt, I want to help him; I can't stand that he would rather be hurt than tell us so that we could fix it."

"It's a guy thing, Aang," Toph said, "Once you get to be a teenager, you won't want anyone knowing that you're hurt either; it's about proving who's stronger."

Aang looked at Sokka, since he was the only teenage boy that he knew. Sokka shrugged, puffing out his chest, "I wouldn't want to have a bunch of people know if I was hurting."

Aang shook his head, "But we're not a bunch of people! He's supposed to trust us, not hide that he's suffering from us!"

Katara, her compassion ruling her for a moment, said, "Aang, you have to remember; he's had no one but his uncle to trust since his father kicked him out all those years ago. I can't imagine that it's easy for him to be around us."

Aang sighed, still looking troubled, but smiling a little, "We just have to be on the lookout from now on, then. If he's hurt we need to show him that he can trust us, agreed?"

Everyone nodded, and began to walk out.

"You might want to know," Toph said as they walked down the hall, "That he is bleeding still. I can smell the scent of it whenever he's near me. I don't really know where he's hurt, but he definitely is."

Aang stopped short, looking at the girl, "You can SMELL it?"

Toph didn't stop walking, "Yeah," she said, "When you can't see, your other senses get stronger to make up for it. I may not be able to look at his wounds; I just know that they're there."

Katara, her usual bright mood back in place, said, "Well, now that we know that he is hurt, we may be able to help him out; show him that he's not alone in this."

Sokka looked at her skeptically, "Really, Katara? Two seconds ago you wanted to flay him alive!"

"Look," the other water tribesman said, "I don't like that he's here, and I wish that he'd take the hint and go away, but if he's going to be here, I don't want him to be in pain." Here she paused, sighing, "I may not be the most mature person here, but I know when to set my feelings aside for the good of us all; we need him, for better or for worse."

Aang nodded, glad that his friends were finally agreeing on the Zuko topic. "Okay then," he said, "Now the only thing to do is find him again, and convince him that we aren't going to kick him when he's down."

Everyone groaned, knowing that finding a pissed off fire bender would take then a lot longer than finding an embarrassed one would. "I call a break first," Toph said, "I am starving and I don't think any of us will get far if we don't eat something."

Sokka nodded vigorously, his mouth watering at the thought of food.

"M-Kay, then," Aang said, "How 'bout we got to the kitchen; Zuko can't have had anything to eat either. We might just find him on our way, and we can kill two birds with one stone."

Everyone nodded and started walking in what they assumed was the direction to the kitchen, none of them knowing that an enemy more dangerous than they could comprehend was close.

BANDON-MAKES-AN-END

This is the end of Chapter two of my 'Four Part One Shot.' I haven't really decided where to go with this, so if you want, you can put out requests.


	3. Break me Like You Mean It

IMPORTANT NOTICE! I took this chapter and redid most of it. I got several comments about how the pilot plot device didn't actually fit with the theme of the story, so I decided to change it. This is what I thought fit better, but still kept the theme of the chapter intact. It still explains the start of the war, but it does it in a different way. If you read the original chapter, the new part can be found about a thousand words in. Much thanks, Bandon.

Blank: Here's the update!

J Chick 12: (X2) Here's the update! Thank you for both of your comments.

Emerald Doe: Hehe, she found them!

Shard-01: Thank you! I hope that you like this one as well!

Fire Lady: I like him BECAUSE he is so short-tempered! He means well, but he just misses it by a fraction of an inch.

ZuEra: Thank you!

Cocoa: Thank you! I really, really hope that you like this chapter!

ABANDON-MAKES-A-START

Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph finally made their way into the kitchen after almost a half hour of wondering through maze like corridors, each of them more than a little grouchy at the lack of food and the amount of exertion it had taken to A; find the prince, and B; find the kitchen.

Sokka actually ran the last few halls to get at the food, his mouth hanging open as he panted.

"Sokka, wait for us before you start eating!" Katara called, laughing at her brother's antics.

Aang grinned, he and Toph walking slightly behind the Water Tribeswoman.

As they spotted the pantry doors open, they sighed, exasperated about the mess they were sure to find. But when they rounded the entrance, they couldn't see anyone inside.

"Sokka?" Katara called out. "Sokka are you in there? Did you blow out the light?"

They heard muffled grunts coming from the back of the cabinet, but the darkness there prevented them from seeing anything. "What's there, Toph?" Aang asked quietly, grabbing a match from the nearby oven.

Toph shook her head, "I don't know; I can't feel anyone in there. There's nothing touching the ground inside."

Katara rushed forward, worried about her brother, but Aang held her back, "I'll go Katara, I have the light."

"Just throw it in," Toph said, "Then you guys can see what's going on in there."

Aang nodded and flicked the match into the darkness, casting an arching shadow over the wall, the floor, and, finally, over two figures, suspended in air by vines. Katara screamed as the bloody face of her brother was visible, for a brief second, before the match burned out. Then it happened, ropes pulled Toph, Katara, and Aang into the air, dangling them upside down as they all screamed.

"Where is he?" A deadly snarl inquired, "What have you done to him?"

Aang groaned as his bonds tightened around his throat, chocking him.

"Please," Aang gasped through the constriction, "Please, we don't know who you're talking about."

"Lies," the masked person hissed, throwing a bound Sokka into view before stepping out of the dark.

"No!" Katara screamed, taking in the bloody wound above her brother's eye and the bruising cheek. "Sokka! Sokka!"

"Silence," The masked figure yelled, pulling Sokka up by his hair, "Tell me where he is, or I'll cut his throat!"

"No, no, please!" Katara begged, "We don't know who you're talking about! I swear, I don't know."

"Don't you lie to me. I saw him here; I saw the blood on his sheets. I know that you've hurt him!"

"We don't know what you're talking about!" Aang shouted, desperate to get the knife away from his friend's throat, "We haven't hurt anyone!" Aang tried to use his air bending to break free, but the vines were strong, thorns cutting into his skin whenever he moved.

"If you won't tell me where he is," the person said menacingly, "I'll just make you." And then a blade came flying through the air, making its way straight towards Aang's heart.

But before it could make contact, someone else's body was in the way. With a sickening thunk, the blade embedded into Aang's savior, sending blood spraying onto the wall.

"No!" Aang yelled, seeing the pain contorted face above him, "Zuko, no!"

The older boy fell to the ground, curling around the blade sticking from his side. "Zuko?" the intruder gasped, rushing to the boy, pulling off the mask as she crouched down, "My little Zuko; oh, what have I done?"

Katara and Aang gaped at the revealed woman, taking in a face almost identical to their companion's.

Zuko wheezed, coughing blood onto the floor, "Mo-Mother?" He asked, reaching with a bloodied hand to touch the woman's face gently, "But you died."

The woman shook her head, giving her son a tear filled smile, "I was banished. Your father couldn't stand to have me put to death."

The woman dragged Zuko into her lap, tenderly stroking his hair, "My little baby," she cooed softly, "What have I done?"

Zuko coughed again, gasping as drawling breath became harder, "It's alright. I'll be fine."

But even as he said it, his face lost more color, turning blue in places. Katara felt herself go sick, her stomach contorting. "I can heal him," She said, "I can heal him if you let me down."

The woman looked at her suspiciously, "How?"

"I'm a Water Bender; one of the things that we learn to do is to heal wounds."

"Mother," Zuko said quietly, "Trust her. She might be unkind sometimes, but she means well."

Aang didn't know whose face was more shocked; Katara's or Zuko's mother, but, as Ursa threw a small dagger into the heart of the vines holding Katara, she said "If you have earned my son's trust, then I will respect his wishes. But be warned; if you hurt him I will destroy you."

Katara nodded as she knelt down next to the boy, fetching the water from her pouch before going to work. The thought to fight off the older woman must have been on her face, for Katara found a dagger pressed to her throat before she could react. "I know that you're troublesome, you Water Bender. I will warn you once; try anything, and your friends will suffer."

Katara nodded fearfully, taking the blade from his chest, causing the boy to groan, but not allowing to blood follow the blade out.

"Amazing," The woman gasped as Katara began to move her hands over the wound in clockwise motions. "I've never seen a Water Bender able to heal such extensive damage."

Katara frowned in concentration, "I'm already a master. I have abilities that are much stronger than the average bender my age."

The woman smiled wearily at Katara as she stroked Zuko's hair, "My beautiful little boy." When her hand found the scar on the left side of Zuko's face she hissed, rolling the boy's head in her lap to investigate the roughness. "Your face," she gasped, looking down at her son, "What happened to your face?"

Everyone winced, not wanting to think about how Zuko had gotten his scar.

"Agni Kai," he answered dispassionately, "With father, on my thirteenth birthday."

The woman cried, heavy tears rolling down her face, "Oh," she moaned desperately, "My poor little boy. My beautiful little baby."

Zuko grinned up at her, touching the left side of her face and then the left side of his, "At least now they can tell us apart."

The woman smiled softly down at her son, "I had heard that you had a large scar over your left eye, but I never could have-" Ursa paused, looking away with tears in her eyes, "Oh, my little baby." She cooed, "I've got you now. I'll never let anything hurt you again."

Zuko laughed, forgetting for the moment that he had a gaping wound in his side. Regaining his composure, he cracked a pain filled smile, "I haven't been a baby for years, mother. And even when I was I didn't get treated like one."

The woman sobbed before kissing Zuko's damaged cheek, "But you have _always_ deserved much more, Zuko, so much more."

Zuko lifted himself enough to kiss his mother on the forehead before giving a ragged breath and falling asleep in her lap.

Katara actually started at how peaceful the boy looked right then. Gone were the pinched mouth, angry eye brows, and troubled eyes. All that remained was a smooth, young face.

"Oh, Zuko," the woman continued to coo, "Why did he have to ruin your lovely face? Of all the things that he could have burned, why that?"

"So it's not normal to burn someone's face in an Agni Kai?" Katara questioned, surprised.

The woman shook her head, "In a fire duel the winner can pick any body part to burn. Depending on the offense that was being settled, the magnitude and placement of the burns would vary. I had heard that Zuko had been in an Agni Kai because he had stood up for a group of soldiers." She paused, stroking her son's face gently, "I had thought that Ozai would mark Zuko's chest or arm; something that could be hidden should he be reestablished as the crown prince. Never could I have anticipated that he would-" The woman cut herself off with a sob, caressing her child's face lovingly.

Katara actually looked at the boy in front of her for the first time. She didn't look at him as the fire prince, or as their enemy, she looked at him like he was a sixteen year old boy. Katara stared down at his young face and was shocked at what she found; Zuko was handsome. He had full lips and a thin bladed nose, high cheekbones and beautiful pale skin.

"He is lovely," Katara said slowly, "And I know that it hurts him when people see the right side of his face and try to flirt with him, only to pull away in disgust or pity whenever they see the . . . damage."

The woman nodded, "That would be like Ozai. He hated Zuko, even before I was banished. Zuko was so like me, in both looks and in temperament. Such a kind little boy, he had all of the other children enthralled."

Katara snorted, "I haven't really known Zuko, of all people, to be particularly kind to anyone. Or to care for anyone besides himself, for that matter."

The woman scowled at Katara, who flinched instinctively, "He has had little motivation to show kindness." Here she gestured to the ruined half of Zuko's face. "He has suffered for the past three years because of one instance of caring for someone beside himself." The woman took several deep breathes, "He is a good soul; stubborn to a fault, but good to the marrow of his bones." Sighing, the woman chuckled as she looked at her son, "I remember one day when he decided to set up a turtle-duck farm in our garden. Ozai was livid, but Iroh and I rode on the little boat he made. It only went around the pond but he was so enthusiastic." A tear ran down her face as she caressed Zuko's cheek, "He always was a kind little boy. He never understood the need for violence, for training."

Katara felt it safe to glance away from the woman, towards her brother. "Please," she asked hesitantly, "Mrs. Zuko's mother-"

"You may call me Ursa."

Katara nodded, "My brother, what did you do to him?"

"Your-?" Ursa asked, frowning before she looked behind her, "Oh, yes. Do forgive me." She moved Zuko gently off of her lap before she walked to Toph and Sokka, using a small dagger to cut them loose. Toph cut her a dirty look as she went to sit beside Katara as Ursa laid Sokka out near them.

"Thank you," Katara said.

Ursa nodded, blushing faintly, "You must forgive a desperate mother." She said softly, "I had heard that Zuko had come here to present himself as a prisoner of war." Ursa cut Aang down before sitting in the spot she had vacated, moving Zuko back into her lap.

Katara shook her head, "If you weren't dead, how come you never came after Zuko before now?"

Ursa sighed, "He will most likely think that I have abandoned him." She rubbed Zuko's face again, running her fingers through his damp hair, "I could not risk his safety with my presence, not if he still had hopes of returning home as anything other than a criminal."

"Why? If you were both banished, then couldn't you two have sought the Avatar together?" Aang asked, rubbing his neck.

Ursa shook her head sadly, "I was named dead in the eyes of our people. For me to try to communicate with Zuko would mean that he had given up his right to live as well, and I couldn't ask him to do that, not after he had lost so much."

Katara bit her lip, thinking hard before speaking, "But why were you banished? I know what it was that got Zuko into so much trouble, but he never said anything about your offense."

Ursa smiled tightly, "I made Ozai promise on Azula that he would never tell Zuko what I did." Sighing, she closed her eyes, "But he is old enough to understand now." Opening her eyes, she rubbed her arms, "Iroh lost his only son, and, in his anguish, lost the war of Ba Sing Sei as well. Shortly after, Ozai made a play for power, taking advantage of Iroh's suffering. Azulon, seeing the treachery, demanded that Ozai kill his only son, so that he could know the pain that losing one's heir brings." Ursa paused; face blanching, "That night Azulon and Ozai discussed the ceremony in which Zuko would be murdered. I overheard it. I begged Ozai to not go through with it; to step down from the line of ascension. He had sneered at me as though the love I held for my son was indecent. He said that the only way that I could save my son from death was to kill the current fire lord."

Katara gasped, hands still roving across Zuko's side. "Did you?" She asked.

Ursa nodded, "I could not allow my son to die, not for a bid to power. I crept into my father-in-law's room and I poisoned him the night before Zuko was to be killed. I couldn't tell Zuko that his father was willing to sacrifice him for the sake of power. It would have been too cruel. I left him, trusting in his will to live to see him through the world that Ozai had made."

Ursa sighed, "I found out about the Agni Kai almost three weeks after it had happened. I only gleaned the barest details about what occurred there from a servant. No one was specific about how the Agni Kai was called, or what punishments Zuko underwent after the fight was over."

"Wait," Aang said, raising his hand, "You mean to say that, even after his face had been burned, they tortured him further?"

Ursa nodded, "Ozai demanded that Zuko be treated like a traitor to the fire nation. After the victor's burn, he would have had to suffer through any kind of punishment that Ozai deemed suitable to the crime which had been committed."

"How much could it have been?" Toph asked with a frown, "All Zuko did was try to keep that general from sacrificing a thousand untrained soldiers. I still can't even see the justification for burning him at all."

Ursa sighed, "The fire nation was once a peaceful place, but Sozin made everything so brutal. The laws he made are upheld by his descendants, and carried out by ruthless men who seek power and advancement."

Aang nodded, checking Sokka's pulse before sitting near Zuko's head, "I remember that the fire nation was once so peaceful. They never partook in the wars between the earth kingdom and the ice tribes, or got into debates with the air nomads." Cocking his head to the side with a frown, Aang considered the boy lying near him, "I was so shocked to see fire nation soldiers when I woke up. Your ancestors had been so against the loss of life."

Ursa sighed sadly, "When the southern water tribe attacked a fire nation ship, everything went wrong. Tensions had been rising, of course, what with jealousy about the technology the fire nation had created, but the deaths then sparked the war."

"The southern water tribe?" Katara asked disbelievingly.

To her surprise, Aang was the one who answered, "That's right. Almost a year before I had disappeared there was an attack led by the young son of chief Kodak of the southern water tribe on a merchant fire nation ship."

"But they must have had a reason." Katara gasped, "Was the merchant ship breaking the laws?"

Aang shook his head sadly, "The captain had allowed the boat to stray closer than usual to the shore, giving his passengers a view of the southern water temples. It all just happened so fast; water tribesmen sounded war drums and the merchants defended themselves. Eventually all forty passengers and all the crew but a young cabin boy died, along with thirteen water tribesmen."

"No!" Katara gasped, horrified.

"The incident could have been seen as an accident, but the water tribe refused to give up the chief's son, who had started the attack." Ursa continued, "Add to the fact that four of the children on the vessel were the daughters of the Prime General. . ."

Katara blanched, "Ch-children?"

Ursa nodded sadly, "A dozen, all of them less than twelve years old. After a trip to Ba Sing Sei with their school, they had been en route to the fire nation after getting some supplies from the islands nearest the ice lands. The captain had decided that the children would enjoy seeing more of a country not their own, so he had brought the ship off course."

"Climates being what they were," Aang finished, "The deaths that happened that day caused the peaceful fire nation to hide behind their borders." Aang's eyes turned hard, "Now I know what they were doing there, what they were building."

"When you fear for the life of your child," Ursa said softly, "You will do anything in the world to make sure that they will always be protected."

Aang sighed, "The thing that I find the weirdest is that no one puts blame for the war where it belongs. As far as the common person is concerned, the Fire Nation attacked out of the blue."

Ursa smiled bitterly, "No one wants to admit that their people had a hand in the creation of this thing that has consumed our world."

"I can't believe that my grandfather was one of the people who started the war." Katara said softly, concentrating hard on the mostly healed wound on Zuko's side to avoid eye contact.

"The children of this time are bound by the pain that their forbearers brought about," Ursa said, "Just as Zuko is burdened by the weight of his great grandfathers, you are held responsible for the crimes that your people committed a hundred years ago."

"Wait," Toph said with a raised hand, "You said that this happened a hundred years ago, right?"

"Yes," Ursa answered, "Almost a hundred, actually."

Toph looked in the direction of Katara, "How long ago was the southern water tribe destroyed?"

Katara gasped, holding a hand to her mouth, "About that time. My grandmother was just a young girl then, but she told us about it before we left the South Pole."

"The southern water tribe was the first of our enemies to be targeted," Ursa said, "as the first nation to strike at us, our generals saw them as the biggest offenders in the war."

"But why try to take over everything?" Aang asked, "I can sortta understand revenge against the southern water tribe, but the rest of it just confuses me."

"I can answer this one," Toph said blandly, "Once the other nations heard of this, they attacked the fire nation, right?"

Ursa nodded, "The initial war was against the water tribe only, but the earth kingdom and air nomads called up arms, stating that any nation that attacked another would be punished under the full rights of the spirit law."

"But then why didn't the water benders get punished?" Katara asked as she continued healing Zuko.

"The nonaggression pact was drawn up after the incident. The other bending nations stated that the water tribesmen had done what they had thought was necessary to protect their people." Ursa gave a deep sigh, "This became the premise that the war was fought under; 'Security at any cost.'"

Aang shook his head, "I still find it hard believe how much the fire nation has changed in a hundred years." Looking at both Zuko and his mother, he took in their similarities, "When I lived back in my own time, the fire nation people were always so curious, so vibrant. They held traditions close to their hearts, but nothing like what I've seen now."

"We needed something to stay the same," Ursa explained, "some part of our lives to be held sacred in the midst of upheaval."

Aang nodded, "I've noticed how some people, like Zuko, can't let go of the older traditions, even when they have to hide who they are."

"Some find it harder than others to let go of what they know." Ursa said as she took up stroking Zuko's face again, "Zuko has given up much of his life; his family, home, even his people. I can understand how he could take the exhaustive efforts that he does to remain close to the nation that he loves."

Aang frowned, "I still don't really understand him. One moment he's just a kid and the next it's like he's somewhere else entirely."

Ursa ran her hand down the scar on Zuko's face, "Zuko has learned to adapt to his surroundings. He was always like that. Even as a child. When Ozai and I would fight Zuko would go into himself, project only a shell of his true personality."

"Why?" Katara asked.

Toph snorted, "When you live in a place where being who you are gets you in trouble, you learn to hide it pretty quickly."

Katara flinched at the pain she heard in the young girl's voice, a pain that she kept hidden most of the time.

"Anyways," Aang said, his voice overly bright, "How's Zuko doing?"

Katara smiled at him, glad that someone was changing the topic of discussion, "He's fine now. A few more seconds and nothing but a light scar will show that he even got hurt at all."

Ursa beamed at Katara, "Thank you, young lady. I cannot tell you what I would have done had I been the one to kill my little Zuko."

Katara nodded, using her powers to fuse the edges of the knife wound together almost seamlessly.

As they sat in silence, Toph suddenly coughed, "Um, Ms. Ursa?" She asked awkwardly, "How did you find us?"

Aang jumped up, "That's right! Someone must know that we're here!"

Ursa laughed, "It wasn't very hard to find you all. I knew that Zuko had been on the lookout for you and followed him." Sighing in aggravation, she said, "I have to hand it to him, though; I lost his trail more than once, and only a mother's intuition let me find him again."

Katara frowned, "Zuko's been with us for weeks. Why didn't you come for him then?"

Ursa blushed, "I lost him in a city about a week's travel from here. He grew more cautious the closer he got to this place and it became too much for me and my servants to keep him in our sights."

"How many people can it take to keep tabs on one boy?" Toph snorted.

"You know how hard it was for us to evade him," Aang reasoned, "Imagine what it would have been like if we had tried to hunt him, instead of him hunting us?"

Katara shivered, "I don't know how he was always able to find us like he did. It was like he was a step ahead of us the entire time."

Ursa smiled proudly down at her son, "He was always so smart. Azula may have made fun of him for being shortsighted, but he could outthink her in any given situation. He's impatient at time, which is often a great disadvantage for him, but his sheer intelligence keeps the balance of things more or less even."

"I know that he's smart," Aang said, "He broke into secured facilities more than once to save me. Plus he always knew where we were heading, and he did break into the Northern Water Tribe."

"What?" Both Toph and Katara screamed, "When did he save you?"

"Yeah, um." Aang fidgeted, "I meant to tell you all, but I just didn't know how."

Ursa flinched, "I know that you all may think the worst of him, but Zuko really is a kind boy. I haven't been able to be with him for four years, but I have watched him as closely as I could from the distance."

"There's nothing that he could have done to erase the things that he did to us, to our family and friends." Katara spat.

Ursa snarled at her, "What would you have done, little girl? If you had been told that the only way to ever seen your family again was to capture someone immensely more powerful than yourself, someone who had the advantage of thousands of people wishing to aide him?"

Katara looked away, "I wouldn't have held children hostage. I wouldn't have allowed for people to die or for entire villages to burn."

Ursa sighed, "Wouldn't you?"

Katara glared at her, "I have more respect for life than that. Nothing in this world is worth ruining the lives of others."

"If you had nothing but a dream, wouldn't you do anything to realize it? If everything you had ever known were suddenly changed, could you continue to be kind?" Ursa said sadly, "You forget what it was that sent Zuko on his journey, little one. You forget that it was his concern for the lives of others that damned him to three years of searching for something that didn't exist. Three years of being an enemy to the one place that he had ever called home."

"He wasn't an enemy," Toph said with a shrug, "He was just banished."

Ursa cringed as her eyes darkened with pain, "Do you know what the laws say that you can do to someone who is banished?"

Everyone shook their heads, both curious and afraid of the answer.

"If a Fire Nation soldier comes into contact with a disgraced person, they are within their right to punish them." Ursa shivered as a tear rolled down her cheek, "I know that you have seen him in the presence of Zhao. What do you think that the man did to my child?"

Aang blanched as he felt the acid in his stomach rise into his mouth, "The scars," He gasped, reaching forward to pull Zuko's shirt over the unconscious boy's head.

Ursa let out an agonized cry as she saw what Aang had meant. In the late morning light the scars that the others had seen earlier stood out slickly against the otherwise smooth skin on Zuko's chest and arms.

"Oh my poor little Baby. My little Zuko." Ursa moaned, no longer able to keep her tears contained.

Katara actually had to touch the scars nearest her, as though they might have been some form of duplicity. When the roughness of jagged white and pink scars was offset by the slick tan of burn scars, she drew her hand back as though the contact had hurt her.

"How could they do that to him?" She asked, unable, even with her distrust of the boy, to condone what had been done to his young body.

"What?" Toph asked impatiently, "What are you all doing?"

Aang reached out silently and led Toph's hand to Zuko's ruined chest. The blind girl frowned at first, unsure what she was feeling. When realization dawned on her, she let out a frightened gasp as she pulled away, moving her entire body a foot away from the object of their attentions.

"What the fuck have they done to him?" She snarled into the silence.

Ursa shook her head repeatedly, "I had never heard of this. I had imagined some scarring, but nothing like this."

Katara gagged as a though entered her brain, "Didn't you say that you had seen blood on his sheets?"

Ursa blanched as she searched her son's torso for any kind of damage. When no open wound was found, she paused before gingerly rolling her son over, onto his back.

Katara and Ursa gasped at the marks on the boy's back, Aang throwing up in the corner while Toph wrinkled her nose at the scent of blood.

"A-are those-?" Katara couldn't bring herself to finish her question.

"Whip marks," Aang whimpered as he whipped at his mouth. "Someone beat his back so much that the skin literally split apart."

Ursa flinched as she ran her hand over her son's back, repulsed by the dried blood that she found there. "It's been healing for a while now," she whispered sadly. "He's been suffering through this pain for days and weeks when a Water Tribe healer lived with him."

Katara couldn't help the sob that escaped her throat, "He must have thought that I wouldn't help him; that I would just make his pain worse. Oh, spirits save me, he thought I'd hurt him."

"Wouldn't you've?" Ursa spat, "If Zuko had come to you for help would you have been there for him? I've seen his room. I know that you all keep him away from you, treat him like a leaper."

Katara looked away, ashamed, "I have my reasons." She defended weakly, "You don't know what it's been like, having to always be on the run. To be nothing but prey."

Ursa snorted, "Do you have any idea of the kindness he has shown you all? The risk he has put himself in to be able to let you live, where so many others would kill you on a whim?"

"Don't you even try saying that he's done us any favors!" Katara shouted, causing both Zuko and Sokka to stir, "Don't try to defend what he's done to us by saying that it could have been worse had someone else found us."

"Wouldn't it have been though?" Aang asked solemnly, "If it had been Zhao who found me in the Southern Water tribe, what do you think would have happened differently? Even though Zuko was harsh, he didn't hurt anyone, he didn't even destroy anything. I know that you don't like him, Katara, but you have to realize how lucky we've been."

"What part of having the prince of the Fire Nation constantly on our tail is favorable?" Katara snarled, staring ahead stubbornly.

"Compare how Zuko handled things versus how we've seen other commanders. Where Zuko only goes after me most of the time, everyone else we've had to fight was unbiased. Zuko would capture me and let you all go. He never tried to kill anyone, not even me. Whenever he could capture me, he gave me a comfortable place to sleep and the things that I needed to survive." Aang winced as he remembered the way Zhao had chained him to the floor like a rabid animal, "I've never really thought about it, but we were lucky that Zuko, who is kind by nature, was the one charged with finding me."

Katara stared straight ahead of her for several seconds before sighing, "I know that' you're right, but it's just so hard. For the last year we've had to live like fugitives even though we've done nothing wrong. For almost a whole year we haven't been able to go home and see our families and friends."

"And him?" Aang questioned sadly, "What do you think it's like for Zuko? You have your brother with you, and your friends, and thousands of people willing to help us at a moment's notice. What does Zuko have?"

Katara grimaced, "I hate to admit it, but you're right Aang. While we always have everything that we need, I know that Zuko has had to go through a lot of rough times." Sighing, Katara brought her legs up and braced her chin on her knees, "I know I've never told you what we talked about in Ba Sing Sei, but now I think I understand what he said a little better." Taking a deep breath Katara continued, "He had told me that he had suffered because of this war more severely than a normal person. I didn't believe it at the time, but now I know that it's true."

"I don't know how he does it," Aang said "Although he's been through so much, he's still just a kid. I know he seems to be so unfeeling, but his private actions belie the face that he shows us."

"What do you mean, Aang?" Katara asked with a frown.

Aang blushed, "Sometimes I catch him taking care of MoMo and Appa. He'll give them treats or groom them if we've neglected them. I know that Appa is fond of him. I should have seen it from the moment he asked to join us, but I just had so much hate inside of me that I couldn't."

"It's not like we had a lot of reason to trust him," Katara said, "After all the horrible things we had seen him do, how could we trust in the affection of an animal?"

Aang's face hardened, "He isn't just an animal, Katara. Appa is my friend. Sky bison are more intelligent than any other mammal. They are directly linked to the spirits. It's rare that a sky bison like Appa would allow a person to be connected with him like I am. If he had seen Zuko as a friend, I should have accepted it without question." Looking away Aang's voice turned bitter, "It seems that I have come to take my friend for granted without the direction of my people. The ugliness of this world has begun to pollute my soul."

"And there you can see the key difference between you and my son," Ursa said with a kind smile, "You lost the guidance of your people when you were twelve years old. Zuko lost his when he turned thirteen. Though many would see little difference there, I know that being allowed to come of age with one's own people is something that makes a place home." Sighing sadly, she shook her head, "Though Zuko is still young, I can't help but think that he has seen too much to ever be able to go back to the Fire Nation. He has suffered badly at the hands of his people for years, and found only temporary comfort when with strangers." Giving a teary smile she ran her hand down the whip marks on her son's back, "I haven't been able to be with him, to touch him or hold him. It is my biggest fear that he will not know me when he wakes up; that he would see me as just another person that has abandoned him."

As Ursa sobbed, Aang shook his head while biting his lip, "I know that he's gone through a lot, but kindness remains in his soul." Aang sighed as he closed his eyes, "Where my soul has become jaded, and my love more shallow, his is still hopeful, decent."

"You have had more than your fair share of reason, Aang." Katara defended him, "Zuko may have been banished, but he still has people to return to once the war's over. What do you have? Your entire race has been destroyed, not a single air bender left alive for you to know."

Ursa frowned at her, "And how would you imagine that an entire race could be destroyed?"

Katara looked cautiously at her, "The Fire Nation," She said pointedly, "Went to the air temples and destroyed every person there. They attacked the Air Nomads where they should have felt safe."

Ursa shook her head with a slight smile, "And what of the others?"

"Others?" Aang questioned, "What others?"

"The _nomadic _air nomads, of course," Ursa said matter of factly. "You of all people should realize that more of your people would be out in the world than sitting around the temples. How do you envision that these people were caught and killed?"

Understanding dawned on Aang's face, "They lived?" He gasped, "Air nomads survived the destruction?"

Ursa nodded, "Those who survived were hidden away by the people of the nations, kept safe from the same fate that had claimed their brothers."

"Where are they?" Katara asked, "Why have they remained hidden after the Avatar's come back?"

Ursa shook her head sadly, "When the war had first started, Sozin used a ploy to bring the Air Benders forward."

"No," Aang said, rising to his feet, "They couldn't have done that. People would have known-"

"They couldn't have." Ursa interrupted quietly, "The Avatar was only a child at this time. None of them every found out why you went missing, or how you've come back to us." Sighing, Ursa rubbed her eyes as though they hurt her, "Sozin's ploy was clever, he told people that he had captured the Avatar and was holding him at the boiling rock."

Katara gasped, "That's where Dad was taken!"

Ursa nodded, looking contemplative, "I had heard that Zuko had gone to that place, but the rumors were little more than snippets of partial information. You say that your father was taken prisoner?"

Katara nodded and looked at Zuko guiltily, "My brother and Zuko went there to look for Water Tribe war prisoners. Though they didn't find any of the people that they thought they would, they were able to locate a friend of ours; one of the Kyoshi Warriors. My father came to that place the day after Zuko had planned for them to make their mistake. I know that it was mainly Zuko that got them free form that place, but I hadn't thought much of it."

"Why not?" Sokka groaned out, clutching his head.

"Sokka," Katara exclaimed, "Don't move! I'll heal you right now."

Sokka moved closer, allowing for his sister to use her water bending to mend the wound on his head.

"Thank goodness," Katara sighed, "It's just a little one. With all the blood I had thought the worst."

Sokka grimaced, "Did you forget that head wounds bleed more than anything else? Remember that one time I was building the fort and fell off?"

Katara made a face, "Yeah, you busted your head open on a piece of metal you had left lying around."

"In my defense," Sokka said as Toph and Aang laughed, "I couldn't have _known_ that I'd fall there."

Katara snorted at her brother's weak reasoning, "you had so much trash laid out it was almost impossible _not _to land on something."

Sokka stuck his tongue out at her as she finished healing his face. "I picked it all up later. And Gran-Gran was able to fix me up right as rain."

Katara rolled her eyes, "Whatever you saw, oh fearless tribesman."

Sokka pouted at her before taking a look at Zuko's back, paling, "If I had known what they would do to him if he was caught, I wouldn't have asked him to go in there with me. Damn, how could I have been so stupid?" Shaking his head he looked away from the other boy, suddenly feeling self-conscious, "He wouldn't like it if he knew that we had seen this."

Katara blushed and looked away as well, sighing as she put her water back into its pouch, "I've already bended too much today. If I try anything else it may back fire."

Ursa frowned at her, "You would leave him like this?"

Katara flinched at the accusation in her tone, "I can't do any water bending to heal him, but I can try remedies that I've learned. If I try to heal him right now, I could mess up his chakra flow. If I do that his body will lose its ability to heal naturally."

Ursa nodded though her eyes were hard, "Do what you can. I as soon as he wakes we are leaving this place. My son has suffered too much at your hands; I will not have him continue to do so."

Katara nodded, shame making her face bright. She didn't bother to tell the woman that they needed Zuko- because, if she was honest with herself, they did. She knew that the boy wouldn't want to stay with them now that he had found family to be with. And the worst part was that she couldn't blame him in the least. Bandaging his wounds, Katara let a tear roll down her cheek as she thought about the boy she had mistreated for so long. Placing the lightest of touches to Zuko's forehead, she wondered when she had become the monster that she had so blindly seen in him.

BANDON-MAKES-AN-END!

Hey! This is Chapter three revamped! I hope that you like it, much thanks to those of you who reviewed the original! Loves and kissed!

-Bandon Six thousand, nine hundred and sixty nine words to their chapter!


	4. Between Agony and Optimism

Punch a fish in the Face: (Odd name) I always wanted an answer to why only some people became benders. It really bummed me out when they didn't really explain why EVERYONE wasn't a bender. This is the way that I explained it for myself.

Sara Soda: Thank you! (Blush) IDK about being a genius, but, um, thanks.

Treena: Um, that is the shortest review I have ever gotten. -,-'

Cocoa: LOL, I took liberties in that version of the third chapter!

Amaya Night: Read the revamped third chapter! It explains!

ShakeMyHead: I changed it. It was really just something to put until I came up with something better. Check out the revamped third chapter.

White wolf: I did.

Dragon: Thanks.

ArrayePL: Teehee. I make him strong. It's a hobby. ;}

HINATA-WAKE: Here is the last chapter!

IMPORTANT! This in the last chapter, and I changed the third one (DRASTICALLY) so you need to read the revamped third before reading this one. Thanks, Bandon.

Bandon-Makes-A-Final-Start

Blinking his eyes open, Zuko had the vague feeling that this wasn't the first time he had woken up staring through a head ache at the ceiling. After several dazed seconds he sat up, noticing for the first time that the cushion underneath him wasn't his bed, but a person. Jumping up, Zuko gave a slight cry of alarm, waking the person on whom he had been resting.

When the face of his mother came into focus, Zuko backed up several feet, taking her in as though she were a ghost.

"Zuko!" Aang said, standing from the table where he and the others were eating, "You're finally awake!"

If Zuko hadn't been staring into the face of his dead mother, he might have noticed the relief in the boy's voice, the happiness in his eyes. But Zuko was staring at his mother; his DEAD mother.

"What the fuck is going on?" He asked, a slight edge of panic in his voice.

Ursa frowned, standing up, "You are not to use that language, young man!" She said sternly, though her eyes feasted on her son.

Zuko opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, "You're dead." He said at last, sorrow making his voice tight. He touched his chest, and torso, "Am I dead?" The confusion on his face would have been funny, if not for the actual fear in the young man's voice.

Ursa smiled softly, "No, Baby, you're not dead. And neither am I." Ursa reached out, caressing her son's cheek. "I'm here, my little boy. Mommy's here."

Zuko closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of his mother's love, a contented smile on his face. For almost a minute they stood like that, both relishing the contact that had been so long denied them. It was with reluctance that Ursa finally withdrew her hand, backing away slowly.

Zuko frowned, but stayed where he was, body becoming stiff again.

"We must go, baby," Ursa said softly, casting a withering glare at the GAang. "I have refuge set for us in the warrens. We must be quick if we are to arrive on time."

Everyone in the GAang looked away, having to bite their lips to protest; how could they ask Zuko to stay with them after what they had done?

Zuko walked to his mother, embracing her tightly, "When this war is over," He whispered to her, but the others still heard, "I will find you again. We will be a family, Mother, I promise you." Letting her go, he took a step closer to the GAang, "But I must right the wrongs of my past."

Ursa's face went through a myriad of emotions, but it settled on loss, "You are angry with me, Zuko?" She asked sadly, hugging herself, "Mad that I have not come for you in the years since your banishment?"

Zuko took her hand in his, holding it to his chest, "It's not anger that keeps me here. If I leave, who will train the Avatar? Who will help destroy father?" Sighing, Zuko shook his head, "I would gladly leave this place, this loneliness. I wish to go with you, be with you, but I can't." Opening his eyes again, Zuko looked tormented, "Who would I be if I left things as they are?"

Ursa shook her head earnestly, "You cannot stay here, Zuko. I have seen the way that you are kept isolated. I have been told of the scraps that they give you for sustenance." She touched Zuko's thinned face, "You scavenge for fruits and vegetables, but without bread and meat your body is withering." Closing her eyes again, Ursa breathed deeply, "This place will kill you, Zuko."

Katara cringed as she took in the truth. She had never thought of Zuko as a human being. Not when she gave him the farthest room to sleep in, or when she cut him down. Taking in the hallow eyes and prominent cheeks, she couldn't help her face contorting in revulsion.

Stepping away from the others, but not towards Zuko, she drew a shaking breath before speaking, "You should leave, Zuko."

"Katara, we need-!" Aang began to say, but she cut him off.

"You should leave, because we haven't treated you like we want you to stay." Looking away, Katara bit her lip, "No," She corrected, "I haven't treated you like I should've"

Zuko looked at her aghast, "Is this an apology?" He asked uncertainly.

Katara shook her head, "There isn't a way to apologize for what I've done to you, Zuko."

Ursa finally interjected, "Do you even know why you did it?" She asked, voice half bitter, half resigned.

Katara nodded, closing her eyes, "Because I was scared." She whispered, hugging herself before facing Zuko. "You're everything that I've always hated, and now you live next door." With a laugh that sounded more like a sob, Katara gave Zuko a pleading look before a tear slid down her face. "I would look at you, and the only thing I would see was pale skin and amber eyes. I would look at you, and see the beast that destroyed my life."

"And, in trying to protect yourself from me," Zuko said softly, understanding in his voice, "You slowly became the monster that you feared, isn't that right?"

Katara nodded, tears falling in earnest now, "I saw myself doing things that disgusted me, but I didn't stop it. I just let it keep building until you felt that you couldn't even come to me when you were seriously injured."

Wiping her face harshly, she smiled through her tears, "You should leave, Zuko." She repeated, "You, of anyone deserve a happy ending."

Zuko gave her a small smile, "And I would be happy, for a time." Shaking his head, he kissed his mother's forehead, bending slightly to cover height issues, "But when I thought of what it cost, how could I stand myself?" Pulling out a necklace consisting of various charms, he sighed, "I have people to go back to, after the war. Friends who I had to leave behind. What would I be if not a monster, if I left them to die?"

Katara stared at him with wide eyes before suddenly laughing. Everyone looked at her as though she were crazy, and maybe she was, but she just continued to laugh until the tears in her eyes began to fall again and she had to clutch her sides in pain.

As the laughter died down, she straightened herself. Instead of a smile on her face, as one would expect, she was grimacing. "You're so good, Zuko." She said at last, "You're everything I wish I could be, but cloaked in everything that I hate."

Zuko frowned, "You're fine the way you are, Katara."

Katara shook her head, "No, I'm not." Sighing, she hid her face in her hands, "I know that what you're doing is the right thing. I know that to stay here and train Aang is what you should do, is the right thing to do. But I know that it's not the choice that I would make. I would sacrifice everything if my mother asked me to go with her."

"No you wouldn't." Aang said softly, but Katara shook her head.

"I would. I know that I would." Looking at Zuko again, she smiled a beautiful smile at him, "I know that I would, because I'm not as good a person as you are."

Zuko rubbed his neck uncomfortably, moth open and closing as he struggled to find something to say. Finally, he shrugged, "You've been through a lot in your life."

Katara smiled again, shaking her head, "But nothing like what you've been through. I lost my mother, yes, but you've lost everything. I don't know how you do it; how you're still so strong."

Zuko grimaced, "I'm not strong," Sighing, he took off his shirt, revealing the bruised, beaten flesh, "I'm so weak that I couldn't even bring myself to go to a healer with this damaged body of mine. Too weak to face the scorn or, worse, the pity." Shaking his head, he put a hand on his scarred torso, "I could have left this cause long ago, I could have gone and lived the life that my Uncle wanted me to. Strength is putting the past behind me, and that is something that I still can't do."

"But you've stopped hunting us, you've let it go!" Katara said, trying to make him see her point.

"I'll never let it go. I will never forgive those who have caused this," He gestured to his ruined face and body, "The only thing I've done is learn to look through my personal pain at that of the world."

"And that's more than I can say for myself." Katara said, "I can't see anything but my own suffering. You stand there like nothing's wrong, but I'm falling to pieces. I can't close my eyes at night for the nightmares, I can't face the day without panic attacks. I hide them as best I can, but they're still there."

Zuko nodded, "And they won't ever go away." He said softly, "I don't sleep at night because I know that the faces of everyone I hate, I fear, are floating just behind my consciousness. I have to keep my body so ridged because if I don't I shake uncontrollably. I can't look at chains without feeling them on me, whips without pain lashing through my back. It doesn't go away." Zuko closed his eyes, allowing his body to relax fully, raising his hand to show everyone the fine tremor running through him, "But you learn to live around it, given time." Zuko opened his eyes and smiled a sad, small smile, "Just because my life has sucked," Zuko said blandly, "Doesn't mean yours sucks any less."

"But you've had it so hard." Katara said, "Your life defies what a normal person could stand, while mine is a common occurrence."

Zuko shrugged, "Like I said; Just because my life was horrible doesn't make yours any less tragic. I have lived through things that would kill someone less stubborn, and you have smiled through things that made me a wreck."

Katara shook her head, "I can still smile because my life isn't that bad."

"My life is awful," Zuko said, slightly exasperated, "but it is not the worst. I have met kids half my age sold in to prostitution by their own parents, seen whole families turning to theft and crime to keep fed. I have it worse that you do; they have it worse than I do, but does that make either of our suffering less than it is?" Zuko shook his head, "There is always someone out there with a worse life than you. I know that people say that having a hard life isn't anything to whine about because someone else if worse off, but there they're wrong." Zuko made a motion with his hands, at a loss on how to explain, "You're life is tragic, and so is mine. Maybe mine is more extreme, the scars more pronounced, but we are still the same, we are both still allowed to grieve for our losses and rage against those who have wounded us."

Katara stood shock still for several moments, thinking about what Zuko had said. "You are wise," She finally said, taking her time, "Too wise to be so young." Pausing, she gave a small smile, "But I think that it's what's best for you. You are who you are, I guess, and all that matters now is that we're here."

Zuko smiled, "All the things that have happened won't go away, but looking past them is the only way to survive."

Ursa looked between her son and the young Water Tribeswoman, wondering when her little boy had become a man. Wondering, also, if he could ever be her little boy again.

Giving a shaking sigh, Ursa knew that, whatever her son may choose, she would be with him again.

They visited for hours longer, her and her son, and when she left, she knew that he had the strength, both or heart and of character, to see this war through to whatever end.

- Two Months Later

Picking up a discarded spearhead he looked at the bloody red sky, then to the burned and cracked ground.

Picking his way between debris that had once been homes, he knew that only one war was over; others would follow. People seeking revenge in the guise of justice would flood his nation like a tidal wave in a raging sea.

Lives would be lost, some left in no better a condition, but that was what he had always known. The only way for his people to survive unscathed was for the other side to win, and that couldn't be allowed.

"Zuko?" The young Avatar called from his bison, "The conference is about to start."

Zuko looked at his friend- yes, friend- and smiled, "Coming, Aang." He said, walking past a demolished temple to the huge creature he had become so accustom to.

"How do you think this is going to go?" Aang asked, still nervous about speaking in public.

"It'll be fine," Zuko assured. Looking down at the people gathered near a large make-shift stage, he sighed, leaning back in the saddle, "Hey, Aang." He said suddenly causing the other boy to look at him, "Do you remember," He asked, "That time I saved you form Zhao, and you dragged me into the forest?"

Aang nodded, slightly confused to why Zuko would bring that up now.

"Do you remember asking me if we could have been friends, in another life?"

Aang nodded again, thinking of the stiff, sour boy that his friend had once been.

As they came to land, Zuko took a deep breath, preparing himself for the speech that he had to give, "I think I like us being friends now better."

Aang smiled as the other boy jumped off, taking his place next to Toph and Sokka on the stage.

"I like it better, too." The Avatar said softly, smiling as he looked at the remains of Sozin's comet in the sky.

They had all had to give speeches, each member of the GAang. Aang had been first, telling the representatives of the nations that forgiveness was the only way to be at peace. Katara had spouted something about 'hope and justice.' Sokka and Toph had told everyone to basically leave them alone, and now it was Zuko's turn.

He walked to the podium, feeling the hate and anger directed at him.

Breathing in deeply, he gave a small smile to the crowd, "Hello," He said, "I guess that you all know who I am." Bellows and jeers greeted him, but he simply nodded, "But only in name."

As the crowd silenced, people looking between themselves in confusion, Zuko continued, "You know me as Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation. As the son of Ozai, the grandson of Azulon, and the Great grandson of Sozin." Taking a deep breath, he let go of his inhibitions, "But you don't know me as the twelve year old whose father tried to kill him, or the thirteen year old who gave up his basic civil rights to save people he had never met." Pausing, he let his words sink in, "You may know me as a young man with a sadistic drive to capture and kill the Avatar, but that's only part of the truth." Pausing again, he looked at his friends, who were smiling encouragingly at him, "At thirteen I was banished from my home for saving the lives of men I had never met. For caring for people that were, in accordance with status, below my notice."

Whispering broke out, but Zuko silenced them with a raised hand, "I was forced from the only home I had ever known as a marked refugee. Left with nothing but a single, fragile hope, I scoured the earth for traces of the Avatar. For more than two years, I searched for a person who had been thought dead for a hundred years." Zuko stared down those officials closest to him, "It was only by chance that I eventually found the Avatar in the South Pole Water Tribe." Whispers and some raised voices broke out again, but Zuko waited them out, "I cannot tell you that I didn't see this as my chance to go home; that I wasn't willing to forsake everything else to be able to hold my head high again."

Zuko nodded his head toward Aang, "In the past three years, I've gone from being the Prince of the Fire Nation to being a nameless, poverty stricken refugee. I've helped replace roof tiles and I've help end lives." He spread his arms out wide, leaving himself open, "I give you leave to condemn me. Cast your judgment upon a boy who did nothing but try to survive."

Zuko looked out at the crowd, waiting patiently as those below him shuffled their feet and looked away in shame.

With a nod, Zuko dropped his arms, "I hold no regrets; the life I have led has brought me to this place. It is here, in this time, that I will find the hope," Zuko glanced at Katara, and then to Aang, "And the peace to carry on."

Opening his arms wide again, he raised his voice, though the tone was calm, "I won't pretend that we will forget those who hurt us. I can't even ask that you try." Pausing again, he took a deep breath, motioning to the people who had gathered outside the conference, "We have suffered, there is no denying. First we endured the despair of loss, then that twisted, agonizing hope."

Bringing his hands to rest at his side, Zuko smiled, "And that is where we find ourselves today; with a people so burdened bringing themselves to do something that has only led to more harm. I defy you, on this borderline between agony and optimism, to not only hope for the better, as many have done for the last hundred years, but to actively make it so. Be the change that you have longed for, be the people that you have always wished that everyone else was." Staring out at the crowd, noticing the shine of strength in their eyes, he inwardly beamed, "Will you join me, as this new age is ushered in?"

The cheering was deafening, the applause thunderous. But above it all a lone comet, almost disappeared over the horizon, twinkled and shone with what could only be described as pride.

As the party started Zuko had snuck off, finding a quiet stretch of land to stare at. It had taken his mother less than a minute to find her son, to join him in their long lost nation.

They stood together, mother and child, staring up at the sky.

It was a field of victory that he stood on, but he didn't see it as such. As the others rejoiced, he stared at the falling sun, the red streaked comet, and felt, for the first time, at home.

Bandon-Makes-An-End

Thank you for all of those who commented, and everyone who fav'd and alerted this. Thank you so much.

This Chapter is three thousand, four hundred, and seven words long. Thank You.


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